Wanted
by Magemaster
Summary: side story to Triple Trouble/ Sara befriends a girl who reminds her of herself. Both want the same thing, a place where they're wanted and people who want them. SC pairing


Wanted

Wanted

I DO NOT OWN CSI!

Side story to Triple Trouble (I suggest you read that if you become lost while reading this)

* * *

Sara sighed, exhaustion evident in ever line of her body. She had just finished pulling a double, stocking up on just enough overtime so that she could spend two weeks in New York City with her two sisters-in-law and their nieces. Her stocked up vacation time would have probably lasted out that long plus some, but by maxing out on overtime Sara was making sure that Grissom couldn't call her back here and away from her family.

The brunette opened her car door, shivering as the rain drenched her once again. Of all the times she had to forget her umbrella and raincoat, it had to be now. Running quickly so that she was inside the small lobby area of her building, she nearly ran into the girl who lived two doors down from her.

"Morning Ms. Sara," Cara, a skinny brunette with her hair cropped short, was only ten. She was decked out in a ratty raincoat with her much patched backpack hanging from one shoulder. Her baseball cap, proudly displaying the logo for the New York Dodgers, was crooked on her head. Her glasses were askew and her right eye looked as if someone had punched it.

"Morning Cara, what happened to your eye?" Sara sometimes heard Cara's parents fighting when she was in the hallway. She suspected that one or both of them hit Cara, but unless someone said anything Sara couldn't do anything. Cara never said anything.

"I found out the hard way that two things can't exist in the same place at the same time," Cara's grin wavered a bit, "slipped in the bathroom and hit the sink."

Sara nodded, "shouldn't you be headed to school by now?" She looked at her watch, noticing that Cara's was no longer on her wrist. It was almost seven; usually the bus was pulling out just as Sara was pulling in. Today she had missed seeing the bus.

Cara shook her head, winching a bit. "I missed the bus. Mom and Dad are out. I'm waiting for them to come home so that I can get one of them to drive me to school."

Sara nodded, but she had the sneaking suspicion that Cara was lying. "Would it be okay if I drove you to school instead?"

Cara's weak grin turned into a full smile. She loved school; books in general were her favorite things in the world; the fact that Sara was willing to take her to school when the woman didn't have to, made the day begin to look better.

"That would be great. We have a test in English today and I don't want to miss it." Cara animatedly told Sara what was going on, class wise, at school while Sara drove her to the local public elementary school where Cara was a fourth grader. The girl got out, thanked Sara, waved goodbye, and ran inside the building as fast as she could.

While Sara drove back to the apartment, she thought about the girl and found herself comparing her to Kris, Rey, and Gabby. Cara was only two years younger then they were, yet sometimes she seemed to act two years older. It reminded Sara eerily like she used to act, using school as a way to escape and spending as long as possible away from the place she was supposed to be able to call home.

Shaking her head to clear away her thoughts, she reminded herself yet again that she couldn't do anything as a CSI until Cara or someone else reported something or she had proof. If her suspicions were correct, then she hoped that proof would show up soon before Cara became one of her cases when it was too late to save her.

* * *

Another long shift, another rainy day, another morning when sleep had never sounded so good: Saturday had never come at a better time, particularly when she didn't need to be back to work until Monday night. Getting out of her car, glad that this time she at least had her umbrella, Sara made her way inside.

She almost ran into Cara, again. The girl jumped up, stuffing things back into her bag. She fumbled, dropping the bag and spilling the contents between them. Sara bent over and carefully picked up an unraveling roll of gauze.

"Cara, are you okay?" Sara tried to get the girl to look at her, but Cara steadfastly looked at the floor.

Sara set her own bag down, kneeling so that she was on eye level with the shorter brunette. "Look at me Cara," she touched the girl's chin. Her eyes widened.

"Please don't say anything," Cara whimpered, tears beginning to mix with the blood that was half-dried on her face.

"Who hit you Cara?" Sara asked, checking the girl over for more injuries. She found what Cara had been trying to cover with the gauze, a long gash running up and down her arm. "We need to get you to a hospital; your arm is going to need stitches."

Cara shook her head, "no hospitals, I'll just get into trouble." Her face begged Sara to understand.

"I have to report this Cara," She looked the girl steadily in the eyes, "it's my responsibility now that I know."

Cara continued to cry, but when the sound of a slamming door and heavy footfalls above made her jump, she would have agreed to jump to the moon.

Sam gathered the girl's things into the bag and Cara herself into her arms. With the umbrella covering both of them, Sara walked to her car. Once Cara was settled, Sara got in and headed towards the hospital.

The hospital was busy, and it took a while for Sara to get a nurses attention. Once Sara told her what she had found, the nurse followed protocol and took Cara to be taken care of. Sara waited in the waiting room to see if she would be needed at all.

Sara spoke with the police officer and the social worker that came to the hospital to see about Cara. When the doctor came out to speak with her, Sara heard Cara screaming. Without thinking, she headed back to the room where a shocked nurse was trying to give Cara a dose of some medicine, probably pain killers of some kind.

Once Sara was in sight, Cara leapt at her, begging for her to tell them not to give her anything. Sara, slightly uncomfortable, wrapped Cara into a hug and assured her that she wouldn't have to take anything until she had checked it out. Once Cara was assured of that she calmed down.

"Ms. Sidle," the nurse explained, "it's only Ibuprofen."

Sara nodded, knowing why Cara had freaked out. Shoving sleeping pills down her throat to make her be quiet was one way _her _parents had abused her, it was why Sara stayed as far away from pills as she could.

"Can I just see them, please?" Sara held out her hand. The nurse handed the small pill cup to her. Sara tipped the pills into her hand and made a show out of looking them over. She then replaced them into the cup and handed it to Cara. The girl took them without complaint.

"Thank you Ms. Sara," Cara said softly. She had been cleaned up, her arm and another cut on her leg receiving stitches. They had done what Ms. Sara told her was a 'rape kit', but she could have just told them that she had been.

"I'm just going to be in the hallway, okay? I'll be right outside if you need me." Sara wasn't going to leave until she had to. She knew that someone was getting sent over from the lab, and she wanted to intercept them before they terrorized Cara any more than she already was.

"Okay, you're not actually leaving though, right?" Cara's eyes widened in fear, she didn't want to be left alone. She hadn't had a friend before Ms. Sara had befriended her during the summer. She trusted Ms Sara, if she hadn't she wouldn't have let her within two feet of her.

"No, I won't leave until you tell me to." Sara promised her. Cara smiled, nodding slightly in agreement.

Sara returned to the hallway where the social worker was speaking to a blonde woman. Sara didn't even need the woman to look up, she knew who it was. Once the two women noticed her, Catherine seemed to drop in anger a few notches.

"What are you doing here Sara?" Catherine hadn't been told anything except that she had a ten year old rape victim at Mercy Hospital. As far as she knew, Sara hadn't been called in.

"Ms. Sidle was the one who brought the girl in," the social worker explained, "I've already talked with her, as did Officer Sparks." The woman quickly said her goodbyes and left them staring at each other.

"I guess I don't need to answer your question," Sara attempted to ease into conversation. Catherine just looked at her. "Cara's in here," she led her blonde co-worker into the hospital room where Cara was still sitting up in the bed.

"Who's your friend Ms. Sara?" Cara looked at the blonde beside the woman she liked so much.

"This is one of my co-workers, Catherine Willows. She came to talk to you about what happened before I found you." Sara explained, noting that Cara was once again looking like a cornered mouse.

"You're not going to leave, are you Ms. Sara?" Her voice trembled and she stared at Catherine as if she were the cat cornering her.

Shooting a glance at Catherine, Sara shook her head. "I already told you that I wouldn't leave unless you told me to." Sara stood across the room to the visitors' chair where she sat down, stretching her long legs out in front of her. Cara giggled, having seen that particular pose before.

Catherine watched the two interact and couldn't help being reminded of how Sara acted around her nieces. The brunette might not believe that she was good with kids, but her actions proved otherwise.

"Okay Cara," Catherine smiled at the girl who was only slightly younger than Lindsey was, "can you tell me what happened?"

Cara swallowed, gathering up her courage. Sara nodded to her, the look in her eyes telling her that she could do this.

"I came home from school on the bus like I usually do. I didn't think anyone would be home, since both of my parents usually work until five or six at night except for Saturdays and Sundays." Cara shivered. "My dad was home and he had things out on the table, waiting for me." Cara began crying, holding her head in her hands as she tried to curl up. Sara almost immediately stood and wrapped Cara into her arms. She offered what comfort she could. She knew what it was like trying to tell someone the things that happened to you. Unfortunately, Sara also knew that it did not get easier to talk about as time went on.

Cara, keeping a hold of Sara, finished telling Catherine about Friday afternoon. If she felt Sara grow taunt, she didn't react to it.

"Was this the first time he touched you?" Catherine felt horrible having to ask a ten year old that question and she would give anything to never have to ask that question ever again.

"No," Cara told her, shivering again.

"Is your father the only one who hits you?"

"No, mom does it too if she's drunk or angry enough." Cara shivered again, "What did I do?"

"You didn't do anything Cara," Sara told her, "you didn't do anything."

* * *

Several days later Sara and Catherine both were standing in Cara's apartment. Sara had insisted on coming along, and Catherine didn't say anything against it.

Thomas and Diane Furnas had already been arrested two days ago, but it wasn't until now that the two CSI women could check out the apartment. The police had just released it to them.

"Let's get started," Catherine said, heading towards what she took to be the parent's bedroom. She heard more than saw Sara heading towards the other bedroom.

It wasn't pleasant. Catherine found a trunk with a false bottom that when she opened it found many of the objects Cara had described. Testing them for blood, which like expected, it was positive. She scrapped some dried blood off to test it against Cara's blood sample at the lab.

Sara, in Cara's bedroom, found bloody bandages that she bagged. She also found semen stains on the mattress that was Cara's bed. Looking around the room, Sara cursed herself for not reporting it sooner. She hadn't known how bad it was, but still. . .

"You shouldn't blame yourself Sara." Catherine told her from the doorway. "It's not like you knew, did you?"

Sara slowly shook her head, "No, but I suspected it."

Catherine shook her head. "Did you have proof? Did she ever come out and tell you she was being abused?"

"No, but Cat, you don't understand. I should have known!" Sara glared at her, even though she wasn't upset with the blonde.

"Then make me understand." Catherine had been attracted to Sara for a while now, despite the fights they got into. She wanted to know what made Sara tick and she wanted to know if Sara batted for the same team.

Sara stopped short. The only one she had ever told, besides Abby, Alex, and Adam, had been Grissom and that hadn't turned out very well. She knew that if she told Catherine it would ruin any chance she had of ever being with the blonde, if she even batted for the same team!

"Never mind," Sara waved it off and picked up her things. "Are you done?"

Catherine bristled, but let it slide. "Yes, let's go."

Both women left, but Sara went to her car. Catherine didn't say anything, knowing that the brunette was going to go see Cara at the hospital. The blonde sighed. If Sara would just open up. . .

* * *

"What's going to happen to me Sara?" Cara asked softly, having dropped the 'ms.' To Sara's name a few days before once Sara had told her yet again that it wasn't needed.

Sara swallowed. "I don't know Cara, but you'll probably be sent to a foster home."

"I don't want to go to a foster home," Cara mumbled, "I want to go somewhere where I'm wanted."

Sara sighed. She wished she could give Cara that. . .

* * *

"Hey, Sara," Greg pulled her into the lab where he had been running the DNA on the two female CSIs case.

"What is it Greg?" Sara was confused. Catherine was the lead on the case; Greg should have called her in first.

"It's about the blood found at your crime scene." He took a deep breath. "I matched it to your Vic and the Vic's father, but I also matched it to someone else."

"Who Greg?" If there was another victim out there, they needed to find her or him.

As if sensing Sara's thoughts, Greg waved his hands. "No, it's nothing like that! The blood on the things Catherine brought in was the Vic's and the Vic's dad, but the dad's blood matched yours." Greg stopped, inwardly cursing himself. He had not meant to tell her like that.

"But that's impossible," Sara shivered. The only male relative she still had alive was her brother, and she hadn't seen Christopher in years.

Greg handed her the sheet he had printed out. It was a change of name document for Christopher Sidle to Thomas Furnas. She looked at the next page Greg handed her, showing the matching alleles between her and her estranged brother.

She sat down hard, Greg catching her and lowering her to the floor so that she didn't hurt herself. Catherine came in then and asked what was going on. Wordlessly, Sara handed her the papers. Catherine looked at them then looked at Sara. She was at a loss for what to say.

"I guess this solves what happens to Cara," Catherine said slowly. "you are her aunt Sara."

Sara Sidle fainted.

* * *

They stood in the courtroom facing the judge that would decide what would happen to Cara Furnas and her parents.

The judge, an elderly woman who looked like a hawk, had listened to the proceedings for the last week carefully. The jury had already given the guilty verdict for the two adults. Now it was up to her to decide what happened.

"Mr. and Mrs. Furnas, you are both hereby sentenced to ten years without parole in the Las Vegas Correctional Facility. Also, you are removed from guardianship over Cara Furnas and have a restraining order in affect starting from now until this court decides otherwise." The judge continued on for a few minutes, outlining what would happen should they disobey the restraining order in any way, shape, or form. Once she was finished, she had the courtroom guards lead them out.

"Cara Furnas, please stand." Cara did so. "If Ms. Sidle is here, would she come and stand beside Ms. Furnas." Sara did so, stepping up beside her niece. "Ms. Sidle, this court has found you an adequate guardian for Ms. Furnas as you are her biological aunt. Is it true that you have three other nieces that you have partial guardianship of?"

"Yes your Honor," Sara swallowed, "My sisters-in-law Alexandra Cabot and Abigail Sciuto and I all share custody of them. They are to spend the first half of the summer with me."

"As this court can find nothing that would prohibit you in the guardianship of any of the girls the law says are your nieces, this court gives you soul guardianship over one Cara Furnas. This court is now adjourned."

Cara eagerly hugged Sara, glad that it was over. Catherine waited for them by the doors, having come to give her testimony on what she had found and to her thoughts of Sara. She was glad that she had stayed. Sara's face had lit up when she was granted custody of Cara. It was most definitely worth it.

"How about we go and celebrate a victory?" Catherine asked them, waiting for a response.

Looking at each other, the two brunettes nodded. "Sure Cat, just let me go and sign the papers and then we can go."

Catherine waited for them. When they came back, Sara was carrying a folder. At Catherine's look, Cara proudly told her that she was now Cara Rebecca Sidle. The trio left the court house. Catherine went to pick up Lindsay and Sara told her that they would meet her at the ice cream shop they had already agreed on.

* * *

Lindsay was not happy about being dragged somewhere. "I still don't see why I had to come."

Catherine sighed. "I thought you'd like to spend time with Sara, and I did promise you a trip out for ice cream after acing your last math test."

Lindsay sat up. "I thought you'd forgotten about that."

Catherine shook her head. "No Linds, I didn't forget."

Cara was shy around the younger blonde, but Lindsay didn't let it stay that way. With permission from Sara, she dragged Cara to the swings that were in sight and began to push her on one before grabbing the one beside it for herself.

"Thank you Cat," Sara told the woman beside her, "I don't think Cara's had someone to look up to before, besides me." The two of them looked over to where Lindsay had jumped off her swing and was helping Cara to slow her swing so that she could get off before they ran to the nearest slide.

"I don't think Lindsay's had thins much fun in a while," Catherine told her. "I'm glad you got custody Sara, I think the two of you will be good for each other."

Sara fidgeted. "Um, Cat, I was wondering. . ." She looked at Catherine briefly before looking at her quickly melting sherbet, ". . . would you go out with me after shift tomorrow?"

Catherine sat in shock, not having expected that question to happen. Sara started rambling how it was okay if Catherine wasn't interested, that she hoped that they could still be friends. Catherine kissed her to shut her up.

"Sara Sidle, I will gladly got out with you after shift tomorrow."

* * *

"I was wondering when they were going to kiss," Lindsay told the ten year old standing beside her.

Cara looked to where her aunt was sitting. She was kissing Ms. Catherine. Cara blinked.

"I thought that they didn't like each other that much?" Cara asked Lindsay, who had known both women much longer than she had.

Lindsay shrugged. "They fight sometimes, but then they also work together really well. Sara always treats me like a person, and she helps me with my math sometimes. I know mom likes her, and Sara's a lot better than the other people she's dated."

"Oh," Cara paused as if considering something. "I guess that makes sense." Cara shrugged this time. "All that matters is that they make each other happy, right?"

Lindsay blinked, wondering if this was how her friends who had younger siblings felt. She didn't know the answer to that. She thought about it, then nodded.

"Yea, that's all that matters. Plus, they both care about us so they'll make sure we're happy to."

Cara nodded. She guessed that both she and her newly discovered aunt had both found what they wanted. Someplace where they were wanted and people who wanted them.


End file.
